New Player -- Story Dungeon Question

New Player -- Story Dungeon Question

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Posted by: Kyuss.1803

Kyuss.1803

Hello! So far, I’m enjoying the game quite a bit, but I’ve become a bit underleveled. There are some zones I could explore to catch up, but the thought occurred to me to check out the first dungeon. Even though I’m new, I’m not the kind of person who wants to ruin the experiences of other people. I’m currently level 36.

I rolled elementalist, and while I’m having some difficulty learning it, especially the field combos, I think this is the class I’ll enjoy above others. I’ve always preferred element-based magic users, and I enjoy having access to many skills, and occasionally supporting others. However, I’m not very good with it. I die quite a bit in the open world. I struggle to maintain functional awareness of my defensive utilities and cooldowns. There’s still a bit of misclicking when swapping attunements (I figured using my extra mouse buttons would be the simplest way, but I haven’t used them in any other game.) Still, I’m usually able to solo groups of like 4 mobs at my level or a few above, and veterans, although I die sometimes.

I’m kind of scared to enter a dungeon, because I don’t know what the community is like yet. Will it mostly be veterans, hoping for perfect buff maintenance and a fast clear? I really don’t know how to stack buffs before a fight, or if it’s necessary at this level. I can do basic combos while in combat, but I haven’t really focused on maintaining even personal might, much less for a group (I’ve only played solo.) I’m trying, but I’m still tackling more basic mechanics.

I’ve tried reading guides, but a lot of it seems inapplicable to open-world leveling and it’s hard to practice in that environment. Things die too quickly to practice a proper rotation, unless I’m fighting an elite, in which case I happened upon it and don’t have time to alt+tab and say “okay!! Remember this long rotation using acronyms you have to think about for 5 seconds in order to process!” Additionally, I don’t have access to all of the required skills (spent points picking “unviable” things that sounded cool, and to access greater tiers) and traits the guides refer to.

So, clearly I overthink things a bit. Are the story dungeons mainly reserved for new players? Can I enter with piece of mind that I won’t waste other people’s time? Is it fine for me to try? And, finally, are there target dummies somewhere? :P

Edit: I understand it’d probably be beneficial to pick a simpler class as a beginner. But I don’t have much time to invest currently, and I really don’t want to reset my progress and revisit all of the the same open-world content I just saw in the last week.

(edited by Kyuss.1803)

New Player -- Story Dungeon Question

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Posted by: Garambola.2461

Garambola.2461

Make youe own LFG add. Say that you are first timer and ask for help. You’ll get the right type of people that way.

New Player -- Story Dungeon Question

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Posted by: Kyuss.1803

Kyuss.1803

Oh! I didn’t know it worked that way. I hadn’t even opened the window, silly me. Thanks for your reply!

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Posted by: Memories Lost.7634

Memories Lost.7634

Best way to go about it is to make a LFG and specify that it is your first run through the dungeon. There are often people who will either carry you through your first time or have the patience to deal with the inevitable wipes. This is mainly for story mode, the explorable mode is generally for 80’s, though non 80 groups pop up fairly frequently.

Specifically regarding ele (which I main) the staff is going to be the easiest weapon to learn dungeons with. Also with staff there is only one blast (earth 2) so you can at least blast one of your own fire fields when starting a fight (in addition to arcane wave/arcane brilliance). Also, if you are following guides then I’m assuming you will be running meta gear (zerk), just be prepared that when running zerk you will wipe a lot until you learn what you need to avoid (and even still, the wipes will happen).

Target dummy wise, if you go into PVP you will be upscaled to level 80, gear stats are normalized so you can test any weapon at full effective damage, all traits (except for 1 gm in each line) are unlocked for you and there is both dummies and npcs that mimic players.

New Player -- Story Dungeon Question

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Posted by: Kyuss.1803

Kyuss.1803

Specifically regarding ele (which I main) the staff is going to be the easiest weapon to learn dungeons with. Also with staff there is only one blast (earth 2) so you can at least blast one of your own fire fields when starting a fight (in addition to arcane wave/arcane brilliance). Also, if you are following guides then I’m assuming you will be running meta gear (zerk), just be prepared that when running zerk you will wipe a lot until you learn what you need to avoid (and even still, the wipes will happen).

Target dummy wise, if you go into PVP you will be upscaled to level 80, gear stats are normalized so you can test any weapon at full effective damage, all traits (except for 1 gm in each line) are unlocked for you and there is both dummies and npcs that mimic players.

I’ll have to look for a new staff then. xD I’ve mostly switching between D/D, S/D, and S/F while leveling, as I found them more fun.

I’ve been gearing to maximize DPS, because that’s what I’m used to doing in other games. Since there are no tanks, I’d imagine some more mitigation would be beneficial. I’m still interested to see how this works out.

I’ve heard people say PvP queue is like, a zone. I assume that’s what you’re referring to? Do I have to play a match to get there? Or can I just, like, go there?

New Player -- Story Dungeon Question

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Posted by: Memories Lost.7634

Memories Lost.7634

Staff is our highest dps weapon, that being said d/f is probably the most fun set imo and I use it whenever possible.

To get to the pvp dummies, on the top of your screen there is a series of icons and the farthest right will bring you into the pvp lobby. You don’t have to play any pvp at all while there and you can use it just play with different builds.

How the current meta is set up is based on the theory that while wearing full zerk gear a party can burn down a boss before they run out of defensive cooldowns. In practice this doesn’t always work with unorganized groups but in most cases even wearing tank gear won’t save you from getting wrecked. At best it will turn a 1 shot into a 2 shot.

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Posted by: Jay.1085

Jay.1085

Just right click on the cross swords at the top left corner and select enter pvp. dnt accept the match invite and you can practice on the dummies around the que area. Ele is pretty tough to learn but if you stick to it and learn it you will be wanted in every dungeon. Staff is easy to learn with high dps. I personally use, dual daggers. and dagger/focus.

Take your time learning about the weapon and utilities. The attunement rotation is the most important thing to learn. Get used to might stacking rotations for your self as it is the life blood of the ele. Dagger/focus is easy to stack might, I just practiced in lions arch stacking might on my self till I could successfully reach atleast 12 might.

good luck

New Player -- Story Dungeon Question

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Posted by: Kyuss.1803

Kyuss.1803

Thanks for the advice! I’ll definitely check out the lobby the next chance I have to play. I’ve been playing off-peak and haven’t been able to find a group for the dungeon yet. But I’m starting to feel a lot better about the might stacking with S/F. I only have access to 3 finishers right now, but I feel comfortable stacking to 9 in combat. I’m actually a bit more familiar with D/D and Staff, so it’s just a matter of finding comparable gear at this point (my scepter and focus are yellow.) Thanks for your help and advice!